5 High-Yielding Dividend Stocks for Retirees to Buy and Hold Forever

Quick Read

  • Altria yields 6% at a forward P/E of 13, while Pfizer tops the group with a 7% yield backed by solid earnings coverage.

  • AT&T raised its quarterly dividend 20% after 16 consecutive flat quarters and targets $45 billion in total shareholder returns through 2028.

  • Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Pfizer didn’t make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Retirees rebuilding income streams amid the current interest rate environment need dividend payers with cash-flow durability, not yield traps. The five names below span tobacco, telecom, pharma, and asset management, and each brings a distinct income thesis backed by tool-verified payout data as of July 14, 2026. One caveat up front: Philip Morris International is domiciled in Switzerland, so US investors typically face a 15% Swiss withholding tax on dividends (usually recoverable in taxable accounts via the foreign tax credit, but not in IRAs).

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Altria (MO)

MO analyst ratings
MO Analyst Ratings — 24/7 Wall St.

Altria (NYSE:MO) yields 5.67% at a recent price of $74.82, with a most recent declared quarterly dividend of $1.06 per share, paid on July 10. The stock has climbed 27.42% over the past year.

The bull case is dividend durability paired with earnings momentum. Altria reaffirmed FY2026 adjusted diluted EPS guidance of $5.56 to $5.72, and Q1 2026 delivered adjusted diluted EPS of $1.32 on revenue of $5.43 billion. The smokeable segment still throws off 65.1% margins, funding $1.8 billion in Q1 dividends and buybacks. Forward P/E sits at just 13.

Risk: Marlboro retail share slipped 1.4 points to 39.7%, on! nicotine pouch share fell 4.2 points to 13.4%, and domestic cigarette volumes declined roughly 5%. Long-term volume erosion is the structural headwind pricing power must keep outrunning.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Pfizer didn’t make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Philip Morris International (PM)

PM analyst ratings
PM Analyst Ratings — 24/7 Wall St.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) yields 2.94% — lower than the others on this list — but its dividend is compounding the fastest. The most recent declared quarterly payout is $1.47, paid on July 20, up from $1.35 in the first half of 2025.

The thesis is a growth-plus-income hybrid built on smoke-free products. PM guided FY2026 adjusted diluted EPS of $8.36 to $8.51, a 10.9%–12.9% jump, and targets a 9%–11% CAGR through 2028 ex-currency. IQOS reaches 108 markets, ZYN reaches 58 markets, and smoke-free is roughly 41.5% of revenue. Analyst target: $194.86.

Risk: Q1 ZYN shipments fell 23.5% on distributor destocking, and PM has paused buybacks to prioritize deleveraging. Add the Swiss withholding wrinkle for taxable-account investors.

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